Chipotle Salsa

This looks like the good stuff that you can buy in a jar at the grocery store, doesn’t it? ( Well, if your grocery store is in Texas and not Paris.)

I used to buy all sorts of salsas when I lived in Texas – green ones, red ones, and salsas both smooth and chunky — because there were so many brands and so many flavors to choose from. Here, I can find champagne and foie gras at the corner store, but salsa, not a chance.

There are definitely some drawbacks to living in Paris.

Which is how I came up with this little salsa. I’m running really low on jalapenos – down to just one can – but have lots of canned chipotles hanging around, so I thought that I’d start to ration myself on my favorite green chile, and save them for something else, like pizza, which I can’t eat without jalapenos and hot chile pepper oil.

I make this salsa in a pot on the stove, and I love that it’s both warm and spicy, too. Even after it cools and I refrigerate the rest, I pull it out and warm it up — back in Dallas, one of my neighborhood Tex-Mex joints, La Calle Doce, always served its salsa roja warm, which I just loved.

Still do. Even though right now I’m eating tacky tortilla chip triangles with it and not proper chips. It works just fine.

Chipotle Salsa

1 tablespoon corn oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 32 oz. can diced tomatoes (and juice)
2-3 chipotles in adobo (you may use more or less, depending on how hot you like it)
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Drizzle the corn oil in a medium saucepan, add the chopped onions and garlic and turn the heat on medium. Let the onions and garlic cook until the onions start to become translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chipotles, and cilantro and cook for another 10 minutes. Blend with a stick blender, add the salt, blend again, and taste. Serve warm. Will keep in the fridge for a week.